Other Collections of Ossianic Poems

The earliest collector and publisher of the poems of Ossian was Mr Jerome Stone at Dunkeld, who furnished the Scots Magazine in 1756 with a translation in rhyme of “Bàs Fhraoich,” or the Death of Fraoch. Stone did not give the Gaelic original of this or of any other of his collections, but they were found after his death, and a selection of them is printed in the Report of the Highland Society on Ossian. A Mr Hill, an English gentleman, made some collections in Argyleshire in 1780; and several pieces were published by a bookseller of the name of Gillies at Perth, who published an excellent volume of Gaelic poetry in 1786.

Gillies’s pieces have the true ring of the ancient poetry of the Highlands, and are in many cases to be found floating still among the traditional poetry of the people. The Ossianic pieces are numerous. They are—“Suiridh Oisein air Eamhair àluinn,” the Courtship of Ossian and Eviralin; “Comhrag Fhinn agus Mhanuis,” the Conflict of Fingal and Manus; “Marbhadh Chonlaoich le Cuchulain,” the Slaughter of Conlach by Cuchullin; “Aisling Mhailmhìne,” Malvina’s Dream; “Briathran Fhinn ri Oscar,” Fingal’s Address to Oscar; “Rosg Ghuill,” the War-song of Gaul; “Dàn na h-Inghin,” the Song of the Maiden, usually called “Fainesoluis;” “Conn mac an Deirg,” Conn, son of Dargo; “Duan Fhraoich,” the Song of Fraoch; “Cath righ Sorcha,” the Battle of the King of Sorcha; “Marbh-rann Oscair,” the Death-song of Oscar; “Ceardach Mhic Luinn,” the Smithy of the Son of Linn; “Duan a Mhuireartaich,” the Song of Muireartach; “Caoidh Dhéirdir,” Deirdre’s Lament, in which the poem given already from the old MS. of 1268 appears as a part of it. It is most interesting in this case to compare the written with the traditional poem; “Bàs Dhiarmaid,” the Death of Diarmad; “Dearg mac Deirg,” the Song of Dargo; “Teanntachd mòr na Feinn,” the great trial of the Fingalians; “Laoidh Laomuinn mhic an Uaimh-fhir,” the Song of Laomuinn; “Eairagan,” Earragon; “Na Brataichean,” the Banners; “Bàs Oscair,” the Death of Oscar; in all twenty-one fragments or whole pieces, some of them of considerable length, and almost all, if not all, taken down from oral recitation. This list is given in full, in order to show what pieces of professed Ossianic poetry could be found in the Highlands soon after the publication of Macpherson’s work by other and independent compilers. A comparison of those pieces with Macpherson’s Ossian is interesting to the inquirer in this field. The following specimen of one of Gillies’s alleged compositions of Ossian may be given here:—

Briathran Fhinn ri Oscar.

A mhic mo mhic ’s e thubhairt an righ,

Oscair, a righ nan òg fhlath,

Chunnaic mi dealradh do lainne ’s b’e m’ uaill

’Bhi ’g amharc do bhuaidh ’s a chath.

Lean gu dlù ri cliù do shinnsircachd

’S na dìbir a bhi mar iadsan.

’N uair bu bheò Treunmhor nan rath,

’Us Trathull athair nan treun laoch,

Chuir iad gach cath le buaidh,

’Us bhuannaich iad cliù gach teugbhail.

’Us mairidh an iomradh ’s an dàn

Air chuimhn’ aig na baird an déigh so.

O! Oscair, claoidh thus’ an treun-armach,

’S thoir tearmunn do’n lag-lamhach, fheumach;

Bi mar bhuinne-shruth reothairt geamhraidh

Thoirt gleachd do naimhdibh na Feinn,

Ach mar fhann-ghaoth sheimh, thlàth, shambraidh,

Bi dhoibhsan a shireas do chabhar.

Mar sin bha Treunmhor nam buadh,

S bha Trathull nan ruag ’n a dheigh ann,

S bha Fionn ’na thaic do ’n fhann

G a dhion o ainneart luchd-eucoir.

’N a aobhar shininn mo lamh,

Le failte rachainn ’n a choinnimh,

’Us gheibheadh e fasgath ’us caird,

Fo sgàil dhrithlinneach mo loinne.

English Translation.

Address of Fingal to Oscar.

Son of my son, so said the king,

Oscar, prince of youthful heroes,

I have seen the glitter of thy blade, and ’twas my pride

To see thy triumph in the conflict.

Cleave thou fast to the fame of thine ancestors,

And do not neglect to be like them.

When Treunmor the fortunate lived,

And Trathull the father of warriors,

They fought each field triumphantly,

And won the fame in every fight.

And their names shall flourish in the song

Commemorated henceforth by the bards.

Oh! Oscar, crush thou the armed hero,

But spare the feeble and the needy;

Be as the rushing winter, spring-tide, stream,

Giving battle to the foes of the Fingalians,

But as the gentle, soothing, summer breeze

To such as seek for thy help.

Such was Treunmor of victories,

And Trathull of pursuits, thereafter,

And Fingal was a help to the weak,

To save him from the power of the oppressor.

In his cause I would stretch out my hand,

With a welcome I would go to meet him,

And he should find shelter and friendship

Beneath the glittering shade of my sword.

The above is a true relic of the ancient Ossianic poetry, full of power and full of life, and indicates the existence of a refinement among the ancient Celts for which the opponents of Macpherson would not give them credit. Gillies tells us that his collection was made from gentlemen in every part of the Highlands. It is perhaps the most interesting collection of Highland song which we possess.

In 1816 there appeared a collection of Gaelic poetry by Hugh and John M’Callum. It was printed at Montrose, and the original Gaelic version and an English translation were published simultaneously. The work is called “An Original Collection of the Poems of Ossian, Orann, Ulin, and other bards who flourished in the same age.” There are twenty-six pieces altogether, and the editors give the sources whence they were all derived. These are such as Duncan Matheson in Snizort, Isle of Skye; Hector M’Phail in Torasay, Mull; Donald M’Innes, teacher, Gribun, Mull; Dr M’Donald of Killean, from whom “Teanntachd mòr na Feinn” was obtained—the Doctor maintaining, it appears, that his version was a better one than that given by Gillies; Archibald M’Callum in Killean; and others who furnish “Laoidh nan ceann,” a poem found in the collection of the Dean of Lismore, as are several others of the M’Callums’ collection.

This collection is a very admirable one, perfectly honest, and presents us with some compositions of high poetic merit. The addresses of Ossian to the sun, which Macpherson declines to give in Gaelic, substituting for one of them a series of asterisks, although he gives it in English, are here given in both languages; and the Gaelic versions are perhaps the finest compositions in the book. The address to the setting sun is here given as a specimen of the M’Callums’ collection:—

Oisian do ’n Ghrein an am Luidh.

An d’ fhàg tha gorm astar nan speur,

A mhic gun bheud a’s òr bhuidh ciabh?

Tha dorsa na h-oidhche dhuit féin,

Agus pàilliuin do chlos ’s an Iar,

Thig na tonna mu’n cuairt gu mall

’Choimhead an fhir a ’s gloine gruaidh,

A’ togail fo eagal an ceann

Ri ’d fhaicinn cho àillidh a’d shuain;

Theich iadsan gun tuar o’d thaobh.

Gabh-sa codal ann ad uaimh

A ghrian, ’us pill an tùs le h-aoibhneas.

Mar bhoillsge grein’ ’s a gheamhradh

’S e ruith ’n a dheann le raon Lena

Is amhuil laithe nam Fiann.

Mar ghrian eadar frasaibh a’ tréigsinn

Dh’ aom neoil chiar-dhubh nan speur,

’Us bhuin iad an deò aoibhinn o ’n t-sealgair,

Tha lom gheugan na coill’ a’ caoidh,

Is maoth lusrach an t-sleibh’ a’ seargadh;

Ach pillidh fathasd a’ ghrian

Ri doire sgiamhach nan geug ùra,

’Us ni gach crann ’s a Chéitean gàire

Ag amharc an àird ri mac an speura.

English Translation.

Ossian’s Address to the Setting Sun.

Hast thou left the blue course of the sky

Faultless son of golden locks?

The gates of the night are for thee,

And thy place of repose is in the west.

The waves gather slowly around

To see him of fairest countenance;

Raising their heads in fear.

As they witness thy beauty in repose,

They fled pale from thy side.

Take thou rest in thy cave,

O sun, and return with rejoicing.

As the sunbeam in the winter time

Descending quick on the slope of Lena,

So are the days of the Fingalians.

As the sun becoming darkened among showers,

The dark clouds of the sky descended

And bore away the joyous light from the huntsman.

The bare branches of the wood weep,

And the soft herbage of the mountain withers.

But the sun shall return again

To the beautiful forest of the fresh-clothed branch,

And each bough shall smile in the early summer,

Looking up to the son of the sky.

The collection of the M’Callums was a real addition to the stores of Gaelic poetry, and is most helpful in bringing to a satisfactory conclusion the whole question of the ancient Gaelic poetry of Scotland. Were there no other Gaelic compositions in existence save those pieces which this volume contains, they would be sufficient to prove the high character of the heroic poetry of the Scottish Gael for everything that constitutes true poetic power.

It would be wrong in such a sketch as this to overlook the interesting and ingenious contribution made to the discussion of the Ossianic question in the third and fourth volumes of Mr J. Campbell’s Tales of the West Highlands. The whole four volumes are full of interesting materials for the student of Gaelic literature and antiquities, but the third and fourth volumes are those in which a place is given to the ancient Ossianic poems. Mr Campbell, the representative of a distinguished Highland family, and unlike many of the class to which he belongs, an excellent Gaelic scholar, made collections on his own account all over the Highlands. He had as his chief coadjutor in the work Mr Hector M’Lean, teacher in Islay, and he could not have had a better—Mr M’Lean being possessed of scholarship, enthusiasm, and sound judgment. The result is a very remarkable collection of the oral literature of the Highlands, including selections from a large amount of poetry attributed to Ossian. This book is a truly honest book, giving the compositions collected just as they were found among the native Highlanders. We shall take occasion again to refer to the Sgeulachds, or tales, and shall only refer at present to the Ossianic remains presented to us by Mr Campbell.

Mr Campbell’s collections include most of the pieces that have been brought together in the same way, with such variations, of course, as must be looked for in the circumstances. He furnishes us with a version of the Lay of Diarmad (vol. iii., 50), having peculiar features of its own, but to a large extent identical with the versions of the Dean of Lismore and of Gillies. It is of much interest to compare this version, taken down within the last few years, with one taken down one hundred years ago, and another taken down three hundred and fifty years ago. The retentive power of human memory for generations is remarkably illustrated by the comparison. Mr Campbell also gives us “The Lay of Oscar,” “The Praise of Gaul,” “The Poem of Oscar,” and several other minor compositions, some of which had never before been printed. These, with Mr Campbell’s own disquisitions, are full of interest; but for the details we must refer the reader to Mr Campbell’s volumes.

From all that has been written on the subject of these ancient Gaelic poems of Ossian, it is perfectly clear that Ossian himself is no creation of James Macpherson. His name has been familiar to the people both of the Highlands and Ireland, for a thousand years and more. “Oisian an deigh na Feinn,” Ossian after the Fingalians, has been a proverbial saying among them for numberless generations. Nor did Macpherson invent Ossian’s poems. There were poems reputed to be Ossian’s in the Highlands for centuries before he was born, and poems, too, which for poetic power and interest are unsurpassed; which speak home to the heart of every man who can sympathise with popular poetry marked by the richest felicities of diction; and which entitles them justly to all the commendation bestowed upon the poems edited by Macpherson.